Jade Empire: Special Edition

I sure enjoyed this one and would recommend to all BioWare fans and Kung-Fu lovers out there. If not the story then the battle system is what sets this apart from the rest BioWare games and i mean that in a good way. Not that theres anything wrong with their other titles, its just that Jade Empire is unique in its own way and deserves your attention even years later after its original release, I honestly think its underrated. Only flaw that comes to my mind is that sometimes, battles are more tedious rather than challenging so think twice before cranking up that difficulty setting all the way to the max, like i did -.- Sometimes i had to do around 50 or even more full attacks to kill certain bosses, but other than that the game was really appealing. Oh and, great job GoG team, i had 0 problems with this game ;)

I'd never heard of Jade Empire until a few months ago when I noticed it on the GoG store. As a massive fan of most Bioware games, I immediately added it to my wishlist and went on to pick it up during the next sale, the game is after all, over 10 years old and a $20 AUD price tag seemed steep especially on my budget. I was horrified by my initial boot of the game, with an almost constant stuttering and a horrendous frame rate, it was barely playable. I was close to returning the game, but I persevered and found a few guides to fixing the performance of the game. After some edits to the .ini and some forceful setting applications via my GPU software, I reduced the performance issues only slightly. Any time my character moves the animation is stuttered and the frame rate drops significantly if I move the camera even at the slightest speed. I feel somewhat nauseous when I play the game at length. After all that work, I refused to go quietly. I continued past a painfully jarring opening sequence, the combat takes some getting used to, especially with the issues I was having. But after a while, I finally felt it was worth it. This game is amazing, the world is beautiful despite the age, not to mention strange and interesting. No game has felt as imaginative since my first time with Morrowind. After getting used to the performance issues, I soon become engrossed in the combat. I try to imagine a version of this game where my character can fly between enemies and perform punches and kicks without stuttered animations and a decent frame rate, but even without that the combat is the most refreshing I have experienced in years. It's a contender for the best combat in any RPG I have ever played. It has all the usual Bioware charm and a fantastically written story. The characters are engaging and the plot itself is extremely well executed. My only lament is that I could not experience what is surely a masterpiece at its full glory, I ask the GoG gods to please right these wrongs.

The visuals, the direction, and the narrative made me feel like I was playing a martial arts epic. Not a cheesy one either, a really, *really* good one. Unfortunately it was painfully short. It begged for about twice as much material. I didn't find it had any replay value either. Would have been five stars otherwise.

Everything to please different types of gamers: the Adventure gamer, the RPG gamer, and the Action gamer. Providing, in the 2020s, that you can still appreciate a game from an older generation, that you can endure a UI stretched in wide-screen (only the UI, not the graphics), and that you are ready to modify yourself the ".ini" file to beautify the graphics (easy steps to follow, plenty of explanation on how to do it in the forums). It is worth the effort a hundred times!

Whenever I play a BioWare game, I always have to ask, "Is this going to be as good as Jade Empire?" The answer I get is always, "No." Why? Because Jade Empire is a masterpiece. The combat (although outdated by modern standards) was fluid, intuitive, and insanely fun! Making the combat a two-button system really showed the hallmark of "simpler is better." The story was amazing, the cast of characters was unforgettable (and honestly, who can forget the Black Whirlwind?), and the setting picturesque. While the combat can get a little repetitive, especially late-game, the addition of new styles and combos really allows you to try and experiment. There's also the multiple endings, the Galaxian-style mini-game, and the "Open Palm/Closed Fist" moral system. There's honestly not enough I can say to enshrine how much I enjoyed this game. Just pick it up, give it a try, and before you know it, you'll be on your second playthrough.